Among the former Maple Leafs set to appear: Darryl Sittler, Felix Potvin, Doug Gilmour and Wendel Clark.

“When we began the process of determining who should be on the roster for the Red Wings alumni team, it became very obvious, very quickly that we simply did not have enough room on one bench to hold enough of the many deserving players,” Red Wings GM Ken Holland said in a team release.

“When we contacted Toronto and asked them what they thought about the possibility of two games, they immediately breathed a sigh of relief as they were going through the exact same issues we were in trying to fit all these players on one team.”

The involvement of Howe, Delvecchio and Lindsay is particularly interesting—Delvecchio, at 80, is the youngest of the trio, so it's hard to imagine much more than ceremonial duties for any of them.

Alumni for the Pittsburgh Penguns, Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers have skated before the past two Winter Classics.

The 2013 Winter Classic is on Jan. 1 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich. Detroit is the home base for most other events.